Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to artificial heart valves. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an artificial mitral valve prosthesis and methods of implanting the prosthesis.
Background Art
The mitral valve exhibits two types of pathologies: regurgitation and stenosis. Regurgitation is the more common of the two defects. Typically, either defect is treated by a surgical repair. Under certain condition, however, the mitral valve must be replaced. Standard approaches to mitral valve replacement require cutting open the left side of the heart to access the native mitral valve. Such procedures are traumatic. Further, similar to aortic valve replacement, many patients requiring mitral valve replacement are inoperable or deemed to pose high surgical risk. This problem is lessened by the emerging techniques for minimally invasive mitral valve repair, but still many of those techniques require arresting the heart and funneling the blood through a heart-lung machine. What is needed is a mitral valve prosthesis and method of implantation that minimizes the traumatic impact on the heart while effectively replacing native leaflet function. A consistent, reproducible, and safe method to introduce a prosthesis into the mitral position in a minimally invasive fashion could be attractive for numerous reasons, such as: a) it can treat both functional and degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR); b) it can treat mitral stenosis; c) it can offer a remedy to inoperable patients, high risk surgical patients, and those that cannot tolerate bypass; d) it can allow less proficient surgeons to perform mitral valve procedures; and e) it can enable more consistency in measuring outcome.
The following are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,354,330; 5,344,442; 5,908,451; 5,957,949; 6,296,662; 6,312,465; 6,458,153; 6,558,418; 6,730,118; 7,018,406; 7,018,408; and 7,137,184; U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003/0023300; 2003/0130729; 2004/0186563; 2004/0236411; 2004/0260389; 2005/0075720; 2005/0137688; 2005/0137690; 2005/0137691; 2005/0137695; 2005/0143809; 2005/0182483; 2005/0197695; 2005/0240200; 2006/0025857; 2006/0025855; 2006/0047338; 2006/0052867; 2006/0074485; 2006/0259136; 2006/0058872; 2006/0149360; and 2008/0071368; and PCT Publication Nos. WO 05/002466; and WO 06/070372;